A blog for Small Business Consultants and the vendors who serve them. It contains Opinions on business success, News in the SMB consulting space, and Information on what I'm up to.All material Copyright (c) 2006-2020 by Karl W. Palachuk unless otherwise noted.

Saturday, November 02, 2019

Save Your Money: There Is No One-Time Miracle

I have seen a certain kind of desperate spending creeping into our industry. It's not completely new or unique to our industry, but I believe it's becoming more common. Here's what I mean.

Sometimes, you just need to take action, and you don't know what to do. So you decide to try just about anything.

For example, you might want to sign one more client. Or somehow get ahead of the cash flow crunch. Or just hire another tech to handle the workload.

And so, you decide to invest in any exciting $1,000 (or $2,500 or $5,000) program that looks like it will solve your problem. And so you spend time jumping from one thing to another.

And guess what? None of them work.

Well, that's not fair. In reality, all of them probably work if you stick with it and stop jumping around. If you just picked one thing and worked it like crazy, you would almost certainly find success.

I am seeing a growing trend in our industry of folks offering quick-fix solutions that cannot possibly work for most people. And I can from their marketing campaigns which books they've read and which tools they've subscribed to.

As someone who sells into this industry, I have been tempted down that road. But one big thing stops me: I hate it when people return purchases. Almost all quick-fix programs can expect a 25-50% return rate due to buyer's remorse.

I never want buyers to have remorse. So I try to only sell truly useful products and programs.

People always email me, asking my opinion of various programs designed to help IT professionals make more money. The truth is: I know of ONE person who is a sham and has taken money but never delivered results.

But I know a couple dozen programs and individuals that work their butts off to deliver exactly what they promise. It all adds up to this: YOU have to do the work. Signing up for a marketing program will not create a flood of new business; following the program religiously for six months will.

Brian Tracy has a great line about employees who ask for raises: "Your raise will become effective when you do."

It's the same way with improving your business. Your success will become effective when you stop bouncing around, trying a new thing every month, and focus on one thing until it works. As your company grows and you can delegate tasks to various people, your company will be able to focus on two things, and then three, four, and more.

A great deal of the sales techniques we are seeing originated by selling useless vitamin supplements over the internet through "new" techniques that were massively profitable - despite 50% return rates. These techniques are not pyramid schemes (mostly), but they rely on a very temporary success method.

They basically expect the average customer to make a big purchase and follow one of three paths:

1) Ask for your money back

2) Never purchase again

3) Buy into an even higher-level program that's even more expensive

Here's the interesting part. Almost everyone who takes option #3 turns out to be extremely successful. Why? Because they picked a path and stuck with it. When you're paying a large monthly fee, you tend to take it seriously, take action, and follow the plan.

Bottom line: It's better to spend $2,500 per month on the same program over and over than to spend that money on a new program every month, starting over and over.

Remember, almost anything you do consistently over time will bring you success.

Managed Services on Amazon

Hot Books for Managed Services

This four-volume set is the definitive guide to Managed Services. From the front office to the tech department, we cover it all. Every computer consultant, every managed service provider, every technical consulting company - every successful business - needs SOPs!

When you document your processes and procedures, you design a way for your company to have repeatable success. And as you fine-tune those processes and procedures, you become more successful, more efficient, and more profitable. The way you do everything is your brand.

How to Deliver Successful, Profitable Projects on Time with Your Small Business Clients

Small Business project management is simply not as complicated as project management in the enterprise. But small business projects have the same challenges as enterprise projects: They need to achieve their goals effectively, on time, and within budget.

They also face the same primary challenge – staying inside the scope of the project!

This great little book provides a simple process project planning and management process that is easy to learn and easy to teach to your employees, fellow technicians, and sub-contractors. You’ll learn to track any project, explain all the stages to clients and employees, and verify that everything is completed on time and under budget.

The authors show you a great technique for making sure that scope creep is a thing of the past! Make every project a successful and profitable project!

FTC Disclosure Statement

I make every attempt to honestly state what I believe and enjoy the freedom of posting whatever I feel like on this blog. This is a big complicated world and I have many interconnected personal and professional relationships.

I may in some way receive money or other benefits from any of the products, services, or companies mentioned in this blog as a direct or indirect result of my actions on and off this blog. Any experience mentioned here is just my experience and I have no knowledge about whether it represents a typical experience with any products, services, or companies mentioned.

Whenever it is possible to have both an honest and a misleading interpretation of my statements, please assume honesty. Thanks. - karlp